


Cullavellan Week 2017

by KSilverland



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Cullavellan Week, Cullavellan Week 2017, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-12
Updated: 2017-09-15
Packaged: 2018-12-26 19:43:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12065745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KSilverland/pseuds/KSilverland
Summary: A series of drabbles and works based on prompts from Cullavellan Week 2017. Featuring fluff, angst, and everything in between.





	1. Day 1

**Author's Note:**

> Day 1 (September 11th) - Mabari, Halla, and Harts, oh my!
> 
> We all know Cullen winds up with a mabari, but are there any adorable animals that the pair share? Or perhaps your Lavellan has someone to add to the mix! This day is all about pets!
> 
> Pure fluff, featuring my Rashallen Lavellan and her steed, Falon. Major thanks to @captainsaku for betaing, as always.

“His name is Falon.”

The stable was quiet, save for the nicker and bray of the horses and mounts that the Inquisitor had collected across her travels. Cullen had come down to check on his own mount—a Fereldan Forder that Dennet had recommended for him—only to find the Inquisitor tucked into one of the back stalls, cooing to the mountain of a horse she had claimed as her own.  

Cullen blinked at the Dalish All-Bred that was currently nuzzling into the Inquisitor’s palm. Easily seventeen hands, he turned a baleful eye towards the Commander, the stallion towering over them both. “‘Falon’?”

“It means ‘friend.’” She pressed her brow to the horse’s cheek, a hand stroking down his neck. The horse butted her chest in search of treats in response. “I received him as a gift from the soldiers we helped in the Emerald Graves. Dennet’s been looking after him for me.”

“A gift.” Cullen leaned against the stall door, a safe distance from both the Inquisitor and her steed as he kept a watchful eye on the latter. The horse seemed more inclined to bite him than welcome him into his space. “You got a horse as a gift.”

“Is that unusual?” She glanced up, one brow raised and a lopsided smirk curving her lips. 

Cullen’s heart was suddenly loud in his ears. “No. I...suppose he, ah, suits you.”

Her head cocked to the side. “Does he?” She glanced up, her smirk going soft. 

Cullen felt his own expression gentle with it.

Falon butted her hand with his nose, his nostrils flaring as he whickered softly. For all of his strength, he was...gentle. Soft, in a way Cullen didn’t expect from a horse clearly bred for battle and bloodshed, not even as he nuzzled the Inquis–Rashallen’s fingers. The stallion turned his attentions towards him, as though to ask why he lingered. Why he watched. 

“You both share strength, and—I’m sure—capability on the field,” Cullen murmured as he pushed away from the threshold. He approached from Falon’s other side, palms open and positioned non-threateningly as he did so. Falon watched him closely, tail swishing. “And yet...you’re both gentle with those you care for.” He slowly laid a hand on Falon’s flank; the horse snorted. “You protect them.”

Rashallen’s face had taken on a pinkish hue, her seafoam eyes wide as Cullen’s gaze met her own. He glanced away with a cough and swept a gentle hand along her horse’s side, voice low as he murmured something just beyond her hearing. Falon whinnied in response.

“What did you say to him?” she asked, voice quiet.

He offered her a small smile, and her heart jumped. “Just a request between soldiers.” Patting Falon’s flank, he departed, the weight of the Inquisitor’s eyes on his back. 

_ Look after her for me, friend. You have the strength to keep her safe _ . 


	2. Day 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 2 (September 12th) - Meet the Family
> 
> C’mon, it was inevitable! How did Lavellan introduce Cullen to their clan? Or, how did Cullen introduce them to his siblings? Or BOTH, if you’re feeling daring! :D

The commotion at the front gate echoed through the keep, and reached the Inquisitor as she made her way towards the Commander’s tower. With all the bodies coming and going in the wake of Corypheus’ defeat, a ruckus at the gate had become a near-regular occurrence, and not usually worth note. Yet, this time, she spotted Cullen’s furred pauldrons weaving through the knot of bodies, ordering soldiers and courtiers alike aside in his haste. She followed the wall around and loped down the stairs to the main courtyard, a brow arched as she caught the sound of a female voice on the wind. 

“Cullen Rutherford, so help me–”

The crowd split before her, revealing the Commander of her armies facing down a woman who looked his twin in all but sex. Wheat-colored waves of hair were half tied back out of her face, her eyes more copper than Cullen’s whiskey gold. They shared the same nose, and the same full mouth, even as she scowled at him.

Cullen’s spine straightened as she approached, his mouth open as though to speak, though he uttered no sound. 

“Is there something we can help you with, serah?” Rashallen stepped to the edge of the crowd that had surrounded the pair, her posture relaxed. 

The woman blinked between her and Cullen. “You’re...the Inquisitor?”

Rasha’s brow arched. “I am. Am I correct in guessing you’re Mia Rutherford?”

Mia smiled, the furious scowl that shadowed her features gone in an instant. She approached and took Rasha’s hands in her own. “You’re her! He–well, Cullen’s really told me nothing about you, but we heard so much from the soldiers who passed through...”

The Inquisitor blinked between the woman holding her hands and her Commander, head tipped in silent question. 

Cullen merely shook his head and ran a hand over his face. “Rasha, meet my sister, Mia. Mia, the Inquisitor; Rashallen Lavellan.”

Mia twisted to frown at her brother. “You never told me she was so stunning!”

Both warriors flushed at the compliment, even as Mia continued to speak.

“Cullen wrote that he would visit after things settled here, but it’s been  _ months _ since his last letter, and I wanted to make sure he was all right.” She shot her brother a glower that returned the steel to his spine. “I apologize for dropping in unannounced, but—”

Rashallen’s chuckle was a low, rumbling sound that rippled through the crowd like a sigh. “You and any of Cullen’s family are always welcome here, announced or no.”

She smiled, the expression so similar to her brother’s that it made her blink. “Thank you, Inquisitor.”

“Please. Just Rasha.”

“Rasha, then.” Mia turned and waved at the others who loitered just inside the portcullis’ arch, taking the hand of another young woman with a babe in her arms who couldn’t be anything but family. “Forgive me–this is our sister, Rosalie, and my son, Baron.”

“You–a son?” Cullen’s words were short, startled from him as though he didn’t mean to speak.

His sister’s expression cooled, her shoulders tight as she took the child from Rosalie’s arms. “I wrote you about him months ago.”

Cullen clenched his jaw and flexed his hands as the Inquisitor stepped to his side. “Our couriers have been scattered since the conflict in the Arbor Wilds. It’s made our communication with the rest of the world haphazard at the best of times. Then, with the final battle here…” She shifted, her hand brushing Cullen’s. “It’s been months, but we’re still finding things that slipped through the cracks.” 

Mia exhaled a slow breath and Rosalie offered a small, tentative smile. She touched her elder sister’s arm and said, “It’s good to see you again, Cullen.”

The words seemed to ease something in Cullen as he brushed his fingertips against the Inquisitor’s lower back. “You too, Rosie.” 

Rashallen cleared her throat and made a show of chasing off watchful eyes as Cullen approached his siblings. He scrubbed a hand across the back of his neck and shook his head. “Let me show you to our guest quarters. We should still have rooms open adjoining the garden…”

Rosalie looped her arm through Cullen’s with a smile, as Mia offered him a rueful expression of her own. “Fill us in on the way. You’ve barely told us  _ anything _ these last few letters.”

Cullen’s laughter was warm, if brittle. He chanced a glance back to meet Rasha’s eye, her own gaze thoughtful. She tipped her head to the side, one brow raised as he departed.  _ Talk later? _

He nodded only once, and turned back to his sisters.  _ Talk later _ .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Much thanks, as always, to the lovely CaptianSaku for her beta work. This chapter's set post DA:I, pre-Trespasser, featuring Mia and Rosalie Rutherford.


	3. Day 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set in the Arbor Wilds, pre-ending. Because this is, actually, the only time in-game where Rashallen and Cullen directly share a battlefield and fight side-by-side. My thanks, as always, to the lovely CaptainSaku for betaing.

The Arbor Wilds were crawling with Corypheus’ Red Templars, and the Inquisitor’s team met heavy resistance as they made their way towards the ruin that loomed in the distance. If they could prevent Corypheus from capturing an Eluvian, scatter the bulk of his forces here today… Rashallen scrubbed a hand down her face, further smearing the dirt and blood that clung to her skin. Her teammates weren’t much better off; Dorian cringing at the gore as Varric checked Bianca for damage. Only Solas seemed to have managed to avoid the splatter and dust, Morrigan having gone on ahead. 

She waved her team forward, her greatsword still in hand as they made their way down the hill. The clamor of battle echoed to them as they reached the valley floor, and she readied her defenses. Solas’ barrier settled over her, then she plowed forward, catching the first Red Templar archer by surprise. He fell in two pieces as Rashallen turned and roared. All eyes turned her way and she plowed through another archer, catching the downward swing of a Knight’s blade against her own. She heard her team join the fray behind her: Dorian’s magic snaking through the Templar ranks, Solas’ maintaining their defenses as Varric peppered the field with crossbow bolts. A rallying cry went up amidst the Inquisition forces and they slowly began to push the Templars back towards the gates of the ruin.

A shout tore the Inquisitor’s attention from the Horror that had been summoned before her, a flash of red catching her eye across the field. Cullen’s shield was raised against an enemy akin to her own, his brow slick with sweat and mouth set in a harsh grimace. She twisted to counter the Horror’s claws and watched Cullen push his own enemy back, rallying his men with a bellow. Rashallen swallowed past the panic that had blossomed in her gut after seeing him so hard-pressed, and focused on her enemy at hand. It would do neither of them any good to get distracted now. Not when they were so close.

The Horror fell with her blade in its middle, and she whirled to charge through the field. Setting her blade, she dashed forward, knocking back a Templar foot soldier and another archer as she went. Varric called out a warning behind her, and she pivoted to defend, only to find a familiar flash of steel and crimson battering her would-be assailant back. 

“Thanks.” Her grin was little more than a flash of teeth as she turned to face the enemies at his back.

“You should watch your left side,” he grunted back.

She chuckled and shook her head. “You’d think I’d have learned to protect that by now, after all of your drills.”

“It seems I did not push you hard enough.”

Rasha snorted, her brow furrowing. “Are you alright?”

Cullen shifted his weight and took a brief moment to survey the field. Rasha cut down two more grunts in the pause. “My men are managing, but we cannot keep this up for much longer. Corypheus’ men are no doubt rallying for a second push, in the hope of driving us back.”

The Inquisitor grunted and turned back to the fray, the combat diminishing. Red Templar bodies littered the valley floor, no few Inquisition soldiers amongst them. As the last enemy fell, she cleaned and sheathed her blade. “Anyone in need of potions or healing, speak up now. We’ll assist you as best we can before moving into the ruin.”

Cullen approached at her elbow and they both watched as their soldiers let the battle tension ease from their bodies, sipping at healing draughts or speaking with Solas and Dorian regarding their injuries. 

“Are you well, Inquisitor?”

She brushed her shoulder against his with a clack of metal. “A few cuts and bruises. Nothing bad.” Rasha twisted, looking up into her Commander’s face. He’d been fighting since sunrise, and wore the signs of exhaustion in the tight lines bracketing his mouth, in a slender cut crusted with dried blood marking his cheek. She touched it with gentle fingers. “And you?”

He caught her hand with his own and pressed a kiss to her gloved palm. Her heart leapt into her throat. “I am fine. My men will hold the line here, and ensure that your back is guarded.”

On reflex, she rocked up and kissed him. The press of her mouth against his was not the gentle things they exchanged on the battlements, or in the quiet of his office, but hard, edged with the fear and the determination that had chased her from her bedroll that morning, that had tempered her care for him into something she wielded on the battlefield in the hopes of reducing his burden. He met her, press for press, a hand cupping the back of her skull and pressing her to him. 

She was breathless when they broke away, brows pressed together. “Be careful.”

He laughed softly, though there was little mirth in the sound. “I should be telling you that, Rashallen.”

She kissed him again, gently, and pulled back. “I expect to see you after this is done, Commander.”

His grin was tired but brilliant. “I’ll be there, Inquisitor.”

With a lopsided grin of her own, she turned and gathered her team. They made their way towards the gates of the ruin, and she only let herself look back once, to meet his gaze one last time before he turned to tend to his men. 

They’d both get through this. 


End file.
